Classical Et Cetera

What makes a picture book worth keeping, and how do you spot the difference between a great one and a forgettable one? In this _Classical Et Cetera_ we discuss the picture books that have earned a permanent place on the shelf, from _Ferdinand_ to _Blueberries for Sal_. We talk about what separates a book with “the magic” from one that isn’t worth your time, why these stories still reach grown readers, and how good picture books gently open the door to a lifetime of reading.   See our Read-Aloud Collection here: https://www.memoriapress.com/read-aloud-programs/241   *What We're Reading* from This Episode:  "The Trumpet of the Swan" E. B. White (Paul) "The Magician's Nephew" C.S. Lewis (Paul) Robin Hobb Series (Ian)  

Margin Notes is back, and this episode the group tackles Flannery O'Connor's short story "Good Country People." A PhD-wielding atheist, a pious-but-hollow Southern mother, and a "Bible salesman" walk into a barn. What follows is a very strange short story with a lot more going on beneath the surface than it first appears.   Margin Notes is a book club podcast from the team behind Classical Et Cetera, where host Paul Schaefer sits down with three classically educated undergraduates to discuss one great book per episode.

Is classical education "light" on STEM? A listener asked, so we answered! The short answer is "no." Classical schools run math and science straight through calculus and physics. The deeper answer: if school is just job training, you're preparing kids for an economy that won't exist when they graduate. We're after something higher. We discuss what an education is really for, why the most durable skills come from Latin and math, and why the best preparation for STEM isn't STEM.   *What We're Reading* from This Episode:  "The Feast" Margaret Kennedy (Tanya) "The Merchant of Venice" William Shakespeare (Mandy)

Margin Notes is back, and this episode the group tackles Robert Louis Stevenson's Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Our conversation covers the duality of man, the addictive nature of sin, and the question at the heart of the story—if Hyde is pure evil, how does he end up destroying himself?   Margin Notes is a book club podcast from the team behind Classical Et Cetera, where host Paul Schaeffer sits down with three classically educated undergraduates to discuss one great book per episode.

Classical Et Cetera continues our best-books-by-century series, this time spanning 1500 to 1799 — from Gutenberg's press to the eve of the Romantics. Returning guest Kyle Janke joins Jessica, Paul, and Tanya to build a reading list from Don Quixote, Shakespeare, Paradise Lost, and more. Along the way: is Dracula secretly a Christian classic, why this era gave us more thinkers than storytellers, and how to read difficult old books without giving up.    Don Quixote – Cervantes Robinson Crusoe – Daniel Defoe Moll Flanders – Daniel Defoe The Vicar of Wakefield – Oliver Goldsmith Tom Jones – Henry Fielding Paradise Lost – John Milton Pilgrim's Progress – John Bunyan Gulliver's Travels – Jonathan Swift Candide – Voltaire The Faerie Queene – Edmund Spenser Lyrical Ballads – Wordsworth & Coleridge Shakespeare John Donne George Herbert Samuel Johnson The King James Bible Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire – Edward Gibbon Descartes, Locke, Rousseau, Kant, Adam Smith, Machiavelli, Thomas More Newton, Galileo, Copernicus Common Sense – Thomas Paine The U.S. Constitution The Federalist Papers Benjamin Franklin's autobiography Jonathan Edwards, Cotton Mather   *Best Books by Era* Greece: https://youtu.be/dijEqf0kcAM?si=9kVIpElDUhPlexqW Rome: https://youtu.be/gMcuWkz6XQ4?si=HzXnHEfm6wQBlzhz Middle Ages: https://youtu.be/rDB05FAPP0U?si=YuKH062Kr6uBrRak